What Do the Top 100 Paid App Icons Have in Common?

On any given day in Apple’s iOS App Store there are 100 apps that rise above all others -- where the owners of iPhones, iPod touches and iPads decide with their hard-earned dollars which cream rises to the top. Because we’re curious types, we decided to pick a random day, grab all Top 100 paid app icons and break them down into our own unscientific categories to see if there’s any science behind what’s popular and what’s not. The results may surprise you!

Animals

If you think that apps featuring all sorts of animals (cuddly or otherwise) are popular, you’d be right. There were 15 such popular apps that include animals on their icon, two of which variations of Angry Birds and a full three of which include that famous hedgehog named Sonic. But only two of them come from the dangerous variety of animal -- the Mortal Kombat 3 dragon at number 79, and Talking Rex the Dinosaur at number 82.

Cameras

Despite the fact that all three iOS device categories now feature dual cameras, apps whose icons feature snapshot creators only made up five of the Top 100 Paid Apps, and one of those -- 8mm Vintage Camera -- only does video, doing a slick real-time conversion of your 720p HD video footage to the classic, grainy look of Super-8mm film as it’s being shot. Groovy, man!

Characters

Whacky cartoon-style characters must make for good app icons, with nearly a full third of the Top 100 featured them (32 to be exact). They range from timeless classics such as the Monopoly banker and Waldo (of Where’s Waldo? fame) to modern faves like Sonic the Hedgehog and Angry Birds, but surprise -- only one of them has anything to do with farting. Now let’s see what we can do to get that number down to zero, shall we?

Circles

We’re not sure why, but circles are quite popular shapes on App Store icons, with 36 of them prominently featuring such endless loops. In a few cases you have to look closely to see them -- such as the sun on the Tiny Wings app icon, or the spinning wheel at the center of The Game of Life. They’re there, believe us!

Colors: Blue

As you can see from the grid of icons above, all three primary colors are used extensively in Top 100 app icons, with the color blue punching the clock on 40 of them. Police have for years used blue lights as well as the traditional red after studies showed that the color blue is easier to see from a distance, and now it appears developers have decided to use the same tactic, with an eye toward beefing up their app sales.

Colors: Green

The color green may not be as popular as blue, but its use in 36 out of 100 top apps is nothing to sneeze at. From the St. Patrick’s Day themed hat displayed on Angry Birds Seasons at number four to the mostly green Night Vision app icon at number 65, the color appears to be a popular, eye-catching choice.

Colors: Red

The king of the primary colors (at least for this batch of 100 app icons) is clearly red, with a full one-half of the icons using the deep crimson. The use of red ranges from super-intense with number 54, Nike+ GPS, to lightly peppering the image for dramatic effect, such as the bright red arrow amongst an otherwise drab icon for number 75, Localscope.

Faces

Another popular app icon trend is to use faces, be they of the human variety with numbers 32 and 94 (FatBooth and AgingBooth, respectively) or the more grotesque, such as the ghouls featured in number 19, Plants vs. Zombies, or number 90, Zombieville USA. Even number 13, TuneIn Radio, manages to cleverly evoke a happy face in their icon, perhaps enticing potential buyers into purchasing.

Fruit

A less popular approach seems to be the inclusion of various kinds of fruit in an app’s icon, surprising considering so many developers are under the App Store roof of a company named after one of the most popular kind. Despite having only four apps with fruit in the icon, at least the apple is prominent in half of them – number 20’s Color Splash and number 71’s Calorie Tracker.

Logos

With so many companies having a presence on the App Store these days, it’s surprising that you don’t see more of their corporate logos in the Top 100 Paid Apps. Only 16 logos appear in our roundup, the most high profile of which are classic games like Jenga (number 26), Uno (number 28) and Family Feud (number 30) as well as established brands such as MLB.com At Bat (number 52) and Nike+ GPS (number 54). Apparently, an awful lot of the apps companies are putting out fall into the free category, which is beyond the scope of our current breakdown.

Music

Probably the least popular type of app icon in this group is the music-themed one, with only three out of 100 apps featuring anything relevant – and they’re all different. TuneIn Radio uses a smiling radio icon at number 13, while an iTunes-eque music note appears on Ringtone Designer Pro at number 67, while the classic image of a spinning LP record appears on number 95, the relatively new djay for iPhone & iPod touch.

Numbers

Despite living in a world with so many numbers -- tagged onto everything from movie sequels to Apple products -- only 12 of the Top 100 icons feature such digits, and about half of those are relatively subtle about it, such as number five’s Pimp Your Screen (the numbers are featured on the calendar icon) and numbers 10 and 29, Words With Friends and the ever-popular Words With Cheats for Friends.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Apparently, transportation also isn’t a big incentive for App Store buyers, with only six icons featuring some kind of car, bike, helicopter, plane or even a portable toilet on wheels – which gets points for creativity, we guess.

Sports

So much for America’s pastime – sports are represented in only 10 of the 100 app icons we scrutinized, although they cover a wide range of categories, including fighting (Street Fighter IV at number two and Fight Night Champion at number 91), basketball (NBA Elite 11 at number 22, PocketBracket March College Basketball Tournament at number 64 and NBA Jam at number 77) and baseball (MLB.com At Bat 11 at number 52 and Draft Kit 2011 Front Office Baseball at number 96).

Violence

People are always complaining about what a violent world we live in, but we were surprised to discover that the App Store may not actually be an accurate reflection of that. Violence of some type appeared in only 12 of the Top 100 paid app icons, with guns only factoring into three of those (number 39’s iGun Pro, number 53’s Bloons TD 4 and number 87’s Gun Builder). Number 27’s Call of Duty: Zombies doesn’t actually feature any overt violence, but the word “zombies” in blood-red splatter certainly qualifies for insinuating what’s to come.

Weapons

Likewise, actual weapons are scarce in the Top 100 Paid Apps, appearing in only six that we could find – and one of those, Amazing Sound Effects All in One at number 25, is really only a “weapon” in the loosest sense of the word (you be the judge).

Zombies

Last but not least, despite the popularity of zombies in games, movies, books and television shows lately, only three app icons feature them – and only two of those show their ugly mugs (the always-popular Plants vs. Zombies at number 19 and Zombieville USA at number 90). Does this mean the undead are waning in popularity, or have developers simply decided the flesh-eating ghouls are better off being featured in free apps? We may never know for sure…